New York Times - June 1, 1998 By the end, there were frayed edges on his greatness and dents in his mystique. But Michael Jordan did not care about appearances. He dropped the elegance of his game tonight and simply barged into the Indiana Pacers. It was this brutish display that decided the outcome in the last tense minutes of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals before an unsettled crowd at the United Center. There was the moment when Jordan tossed his tired body into the air and crashed into Derrick McKey, who had menaced him during the series. Jordan was the one left standing. There was the instant he sneaked inside of the brawny Dale Davis and grabbed the rebound of Scottie Pippen's missed free throw. A possession was saved. This was not the polished Jordan; he made only 9 of 25 shots on his way to 28 points against a defense that showed no deference. But faced with a game that could have meant the end of the Bulls' era, he had the poise of the ultimate winner. A loss and this five-time championship team might have been dismantled on the spot. Instead there was Jordan, an 88-83 victory and relief. ''I'm sure people will say, and I've heard it asked, if the swagger is gone from the Bulls,'' Jordan said. ''Probably. But no one has taken anything away from us. We still have an opportunity.'' Now the Bulls will drag themselves to Utah for Game 1 of the National Basketball Association finals on Wednesday night. It took some maneuvering around the undaunted team that Coach Larry Bird had ready to pull off the unimaginable, but Jordan put the Bulls in position to win a sixth title with the aid of Toni Kukoc's 21 points. Kukoc was 7 of 11 from the floor and the only steady hand on a nervous team that shot just 38 percent. The Bulls won through force. Pippen came through with some pivotal rebounds as he catapulted his lanky frame above the muscle of Dale Davis and Antonio Davis. Pippen had 12 rebounds, part of a 50-34 Bulls edge. (The advantage was 22-4 on the offensive boards.) The Pacers were left to wander off the court, shaking their heads after coming so close to shocking the world. ''This was probably the toughest playoff series of my career,'' said Pippen, who has played on all five Bulls champions since 1991. ''There was the pressure, and being expected to win. They gave us everything we could ask for. We just tried to make this one game the biggest game of our season.'' And of their lives. Jordan did not give a career performance, but he found his teammates when he had to. ''I remember when I was a player and not shooting well, I had to help in other ways,'' Bird said. ''Michael's jump shot didn't beat us tonight, but his free throws did. That's part of what makes him the greatest player ever.'' It was obvious that as this game arrived, there was something unsettling and unfamiliar seeping into the atmosphere surrounding the Bulls: insecurity. A day before Game 7, Bulls Coach Phil Jackson must have sensed the unease creeping into his team's mind, and he offered this advice in dealing with fear. ''I told them you can lose,'' Jackson said. ''Anything's possible. You can lose a game like this. But if you give your best effort, there's nothing frightening about losing. Fear is something worse than the actual thing itself.'' Bird's motivational speech? ''Don't choke,'' he deadpanned. There was nothing uptight about the Pacers. They came out as if this were just another game. After hitting their first eight shots and taking a 13-point first-quarter lead, the Pacers learned about the resolve of the Bulls, particularly Jordan. With a flurry of energy in the second quarter, he shooed away the butterflies and carried the Bulls to within 3, at 48-45, at the half. The Bulls, leaning on the hot shooting of Kukoc, took an 8-point lead in the third quarter. But there was no room for comfort as the Pacers came back to tighten things after a couple of turnovers by the Bulls in the final two minutes of the period. The Bulls held just a 69-65 lead entering the fourth. The crowd held its breath, knowing this last quarter could well determine the life span of the Bulls' dynasty. Instead of Jordan deciding when enough was enough, the Pacers could be the ones to nudge him toward a sunset. ''I was tired, but it's all about laying it on the line,'' Jordan said. ''It's about heart. I think we showed a lot of heart out there on the basketball court. ''It's a big challenge to get to the finals, but you look at our records. We haven't lost in the finals and that's a great confidence to have. We're going in with a lot of confidence. Sure, it was a battle to get there, no one said it would be easy, but we're there. So now, let's just do the job.''

• published: 01 Dec 2012
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